Dark Matter: Season 2 Episode 5 Review – We Voted Not to Space You

This week opened by jumping ahead a little – to The Android in a bar scene, during which it was immediately apparent that she had taken on the human upgrade from the previous episode. What ensues is another fight scene, similar to the one we witnessed in Kill Them All, during which The Android showcases her exceptional fighting abilities. Below you will find our spoiler-heavy review of this week’s episode.

During an interview at SDCC 2016, Melissa O’Neil pointed out that “The Android is going through an incredible arc this season and for anyone who’s really into science news… what they take her through is exactly what we’re on the cutting edge of science today, with the brain.” O’Neil goes on to call the showrunners prophetic, in having come up with this idea ahead of science.

This episode explores precisely what Melissa was talking about. The Raza crew decide that they want to hunt down One’s murderer and put an end to them, which provides The Android with an excuse to use the upgrade. She even freely admits that she was mulling over using it anyway, but that at least now she has a reason to do so. Upon implementation of the chip, The Android suddenly acquires a fashion sense, a cooler personality and far more human mannerisms.

Her choice to slap Three’s arse while stating “would it kill you to give a girl a compliment?” was just one of the many effective humorous moments in this episode. Another included The Android trying her best to get arrested, resulting in her ripping the shirt of a guard, and you could really tell that Zoie was revelling in the opportunity to play outside of her usually emotionless role, for a change.

There was also some flirtatious interplay between Nyx and Three this week (whereas last week it was between Nyx and Four). Nyx also seemed to be hiding something during their underground hunt, and indeed actress Melanie Liburd confirmed this in an interview: “She’s hiding a few things. Nyx has a few secrets that will be revealed… you find to more about Nyx’s backstory in episode 2×06.”

One of our favourite lines this week was Two telling Jace Corso: “You don’t know anything about him,” after Jace called One “weak and a coward.” She goes on to explain that regardless of One’s past, he was a member of her crew, and Jace killed him. The show’s greatest strength is when it plays on the unity of its crew and we love it. The show is also not afraid to throw this unity into question occasionally too, and even this week Five posed the question: “What exactly is us anyway? Cause lately I’m kinda wondering.”

This episode also introduced Lost Girl‘s (which Zoie Palmer is from too) Kris Holden-Ried as Chief Inspector Kierkan of the Galactic Authority. We love Holder-Ried as an actor – he’s someone who can really hold his own on screen, and this role as the cool and calm Chief Inspector rather suits him. We also saw a little empathy within the character, despite his resolute attitude to bring the crew down, so we can’t help but wonder if later on this season we might see Kierkan act contrary to his orders.

This week closed out with the idea that The Android is a danger to the ship and to everyone onboard and that she knows this. We can’t see her ever acting against the crew of the Raza willingly, however flawed her programming might be, but it will be interesting to see if her programming continues to deteriorate and what kind of further effects this has.

The writers gave us another strong episode this week; one rife with humour, which also gave us a satisfying end to Jace Corso (although we will miss Marc Bendavid’s inclusion within the show). Given what Melanie Liburd revealed about next week’s episode, we could be in for some interesting revelations into the character of Nyx, including the answer to such questions as how she is able to hold her own again the nanite-infused Two.